Brandon Sanderson’s 2013 Semester at BYU: Creative Writing, Lecture 1

This video is a mirror of the materials posted by user writeaboutdragons. I’ve provided some notes with timestamps below, and occasional color correction. Enjoy!

AUDIO CUTS OUT FROM 29:46 UNTIL 31:20. Sorry, I am just mirroring the originals, I can’t get the sound back in there.

*Notes*

0:12 / Habits of being a writer
Most of writing becomes instinctual and intuitive, not academic
It takes practice; editors can gauge your skill quickly

4:59 / Learning your writing style
Writers tend to fall between “gardeners” and “architects”
A new writer should try both to see what works best

12:53 / Writing groups
Learn how to give and receive criticism to make you a better writer

24:14 / Giving feedback
Be descriptive: give response to writing, do NOT give solutions and try to be proscriptive
Where you laughed, where you were confused, where you liked the character, where the character bored you, etc
Keep book context in mind; genre might not be to your taste, but that doesn’t help the author

29:46 / AUDIO CUTS OUT
31:20 / AUDIO RESUMES

32:59 / Writing group problems
Pacing is very hard to determine when reading chapterbychapter over weeks
If one person notices something, it can make the whole group fixate on it, even if it is a small issue

34:17 / Writing group structure for the class
Have someone specific in charge to time things
Start with good things; then larger problems; then questions from the author
Make it a discussion

45:14 / Ideas are cheap
Skill as a writer is more important than ideas
Good story mixes three things
Setting
Character
Plot
When you have a few of each of these, you can start a story

49:46 / Brainstorming settings with the class to demonstrate how easy ideas are to generate

53:46 / Brainstorming technologies / magics with the class

55:09 / Brainstorming plot hooks with the class

1:02:26 / Brainstorming characters with the class

1:04:55 / Merging different sparks into a single story

1:20:13 / Questions from the class